Wasn't the Apocrypha in the King James?
PREFACE:
This is a refutation of a article found at several Protestant Websites, it is also found on the anti-Catholic "Jesus is Lord" [JIL] Website. Here it is found as part of a article called "Why the Apocrypha Isn't in the Bible". The main part of the JIL article is refuted here. We answered this as a separate article so we could go more in depth on the issue of the "Apocrypha" and its relation to the 1611 KJV
INTRODUCTION:
We Know That King James intended to have the "Apocrypha" in his Bible, after all were not these books placed there by:
It should not come as a suprise to find them here for the so called "Apocrypha" Books were found in ALL the Earlier Protestant English Translations of the Bible which predate the KJV.
King James had his "Translation" Committee was fomed in a very specific structure it was composed of six panels of translators (47 men in all), two panels met respectively in Westminster, Cambridge and Oxford. Three panels were responsible for the Old Testament, two for the New Testament, and one One of the Cambridge Companies specificly for the "Apocrypha" Books, this last group composed of seven members was led by Dr. Bois.
The Translators of the KJV held that eleven times Christ and the Apostles referred to or quoted from the "Apocrpha" books. The translators cross-referenced these eleven New Testament passages with the Apocrypha.
Mat 6:7 Ecclesiasticus 7:14 Mat 23:37 2 Esdras 1:30 Mat 27:43 Wisdom 2:15-16 Luke 6:31 Tobit 4:15 Luke 14:13 Tobit 4:7 John 10:22 1 Maccabees 4:59 Rom 9:21 Wisdom 15:7 Rom 11:34 Wisdom 9:13 2 Cor 9:7 Ecclesiasticus 35:9 Heb 1:3 Wisdom 7:26 Heb 11:35 2 Maccabees 7:7 The above links are to images taken from The Holy Bible, King James Version, 1611 Edition (Thomas Nelson Publishers), a reprint of the first edition of the authorized 1611 Version.If we look over the pages "Apocrypha" books in 1611 King James Version we find over 840 times the translators cross-referenced these books to those of the "ligament" canon. This is a clear sign that these books were held as Sripture by the translators. We find in the general rules set forth By King James himself for the translation of this Bible that these cross-referencing were only allowed for "one Scripture to another" :
We also find that the "apocrypha" books were also held worthy of public prayer and worship for the 1611 contained calendars with such things a as a schedule of Scripture readings for morning and evening prayer which includes passages from the "Apocrypha". We will go into this more further down in this article."7. Such Quotations of Places to be marginally set down as shall serve for the fit Reference of one Scripture to another." [As found in "The Church History Of Britain" by Thomas Fuller, Oxford, M.DCCC.XLV]
Another way we know that the "Apocrypha" Books were held in high regard in the early KJVs is the way the printers decorated them with ornate woodcuts.
This scan is from the 1611 printings of the King James Version, published by Robert Baker, [who up until 1631 had exclusive Printing rights to this Bible]. This scan is from the Title Page of the Second book of Maccabees. Just like The other books of the Scriptures, the printers of the early KJVs decorated the opening words of each chapter of the "Apocrypha" books with highly ornate woodcuts.
Click here to see this scan closer up. Click Here to see the full scan of this page from the 1611.
This is another wonderful example, it is from the title page of the book of Baruch.
This scans is from a Leafs in my collection from the 1625 King James Version Printed by Richard Norton and John Bill The "printers to the Kings moft excellent Majestie". This printing has become fondly know among collectors a the "Last Edition" because of the year of its Printing. This was The LAST edition published During the reign of King James the first of England. Click here to see another close up scan from the 1625 printing of the KJV, it is the woodcut on title page Bel & The Dradon.
Another example of the acceptance of the "Apocrypha" books is at the wording found at the bottom of the last page of the book of Malachi, [which most Protestants today consider the end of the Old Testament], just before the beginning of the First Esdras, we find the words "The end of the Prophets". As we can see the translators did not designate this as the end of the Old Testament [which they could have], they simply called it the end of the books of the Prophets, a grouping of books of the Old Testament. Click on the following link to see a photo of this point, the image is from a original 1611 printing of the King James Version printed by Robert Barker: Click here to see the image.
And last, we know for a fact, that the translators held these books as sacred and wish them to be part of there Bible, by the measures they took to keep part of the KJV. In 1615, the Anglican Archbishop [George] Abbott, a High Commission Court member and one of the origional translator of the King James Version, "forbade anyone to issue a Bible without the Apocrypha on pain of one year's imprisonment" (Moorman, Forever Settled, p. 183).
now we shall examine the arguments put forth by the Jesus is Lord site.
THE REBUTTAL:
[JIL] "The King James translators never considered the Apocrypha the word of God."
Of course they can and have offered no evidence to back up this claim, while as we have already seen there is allot of strong evidence that proves the translators did indeed considered the "Apocrypha" books to be the word of God.
[JIL] "As books of some historical value..."
First it is important to note that it is true that these books do have historical value but this was not the reason for there being placed in the 1611 KJV. First, we need to note that these books the Protestants call the "Apocrypha" Books were in the Earlier Protestant English Translations of the Bible which Predated the 1611 KJV. Here again the protestant's show there ignorance of the topic, the original 1611 KJV had a calendar for each month of the year.
Bellow are scans of the 1613 KJV calendars for the months of:
May June July August September October All of these leafs were printed by Robert Barker at London, England in 1613. The page size is A HUGE 11" X 16" these are Original leafs from the true Second Folio of the King James Bible. Black and red Letter English language text arraigned in double columns in "Gothic print type".
These calendars contained [shown in the scan above] contained such things as a schedule of Scripture readings for morning and evening prayer which includes passages from the "Apocrypha":
2 Esdras May 27-29;
Judith, Oct. 6-13;
Wisdom, Jan. 25; Feb.3; Feb. 24; Oct. 14-17; Nov. 1;
The 1611 KJV encourages rather than discourages the use of the Apocrypha in devotional reading and public worship, which is strange if the "Apocrypha" is not considered in some way inspired and authoritative Scripture. Clearly, the original translators of the 1611 King James Version held the Deutero-Canonical books as authoritative or Scriptural, and worthy of public prayer and worship. It is also important to note the occasions of the use of these "Apocrypha" books in the calendars.
We observe the creators of the Kings Bible chose to use the book of "Ecclesiasticus" and "Wisedome" for Public prayer on the special holy days and for many of the days in honor of the Apostles of Christ, some examples are:
Jan. 25 is the holy-day in honor of the "Conuerf [conversion] of Paul" the book of "Wisedome" was chosen
Feb. 2 is the holy-day in honor of "Purification of Mary" the book of "Wisedome" was chosen
Feb. 24 is the holy-day in honor of "S. Matthias" the book of "Ecclesiasticus" was chosen
Jun. 29 is the holy-day in honor of "S. Peter Apostle" the book of "Ecclesiasticus" was chosen
July 25 is the holy-day in honor of "S. James Apostle" the book of "Ecclesiasticus" was chosen
Aug. 24 is the holy-day in honor of "S. Barthol. Apostle" the book of "Wisedome" was chosen
Oct. 18 is the holy-day in honor of "S. Luke. Apostle" the book of "Wisedome" was chosen
Nov. 1 is the holy-day in honor of "All Saints" the book of "Wisedome" was chosen
[JIS]"...the Apocrypha was sandwiched between the Old and New Testaments as an appendix of reference material."
First, the "Apocrypha" was not "sandwiched" between the Testaments, it was placed at the end of the Old Testament. If we examine this scan of the beautify engraved title page of the 1611 KJV we see it Simply say " The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old testament, and the New" with no designation separating the "Books called Apocrypha" from the Old Testament. The creators of the 1611 KJV went to great lengths to form a separation between the Old and New testament even placing a special elaborately engraved title page marking the beginning of the New testament. Yet they placed NO SUCH distinction between the end of the Old Testament and the "Apocrypha". Again this show acceptance of these Books as part of the Old Testament.
Second, as we have seen in the last point, these books were held far more important than simply as "appendix" or "reference material", they were read publicly in the Churches [by order of the King] but they were actually used in public worship in seventeen century Protestant England.
[JIL] "This followed the format that Luther had used. Luther prefaced the Apocrypha with a statement."
In the first place the translators of the 1611 were Anglican and Puritan not Lutheran.
Second, so what if Luther did not hold the Apocrypha books with high regard, for Luther also rejected several books of the new testament as well. If we look at Luther's German translation of the Bible, Luther put the sacred epistles of Hebrews, James, Jude, and the book of Revelation together at the end of his New Testament, separating them from the rest in the numbering the books, so that they appeared as a appendix. He numbered the others from 1 to 23, but he gave these four no numbers. He categorized them as inferior to the rest of the Bible.
For more on this Visit : Did The 16th Century the Protestant "Reformers" Reject Parts of The New Testament?:
[JIL]"In 1599, TWELVE YEARS BEFORE the King James Bible was published, King James said this about the Apocrypha: 'As to the Apocriphe bookes, I OMIT THEM because I am no Papist (as I said before)..."
To start with King James seem to have flipped his position on these books, in 1616 [ just 5 years after the publication of the KJV] had this to say about the "Apocrypha" Books:
"As for the Scriptures, no man doubteth, I will believe them; but even for the Apocrypha, I hold them in the same account that the ancients did: they are still printed and bound with our Bibles, and publicly read in our Churches; I reverence them as the writings of holy and good men:" ["The Church History Of Britain" by Thomas Fuller, Oxford, M.DCCC.XLV].
Although King James does go on to say that he still did not hold them "sufficient whereupon alone to ground any Article of Faith,". He clearly held these books with respect and "reverence" . James also acknowledges there rightful place "printed and bound with our Bibles".
Second King James clearly never intended these books to be omitted from his Bible, for every printing of it made during his reign contained them. Third we find that almost all of the kings of England for the next two hundred years chose to have the books in the personal Bibles, here are just two examples:
The Personal Bible of King James's Grandson, Charles II and the Apocrypha:
The Personal Bible King George I of England and the Apocrypha:
[JIL]The Apocrypha began to be omitted from the Authorized Version in 1629.
Does the fact that the 1629 edition of the KJV did not include the "Apocrypha" books realy prove or disprove any thing?
This is a scan of a book in my collection, it is of a 1804 New Testament [KJV] Printed in Blackfriars London. This Book Was Printed at the University Press for the British and Foreign Bible Society. This edition "omits" the entire Old Testament. One simply has to go to any Christian book store to see that even today many editions of the KJV are printed with just the New Testament, are we to accept all of these as rejections of Old Testament books as not scripture?
Another obvious problem with this Protestant argument is the fact that the 1630 printing of the King James Version again contained the "Apocrypha" among its pages, as did most printings for the next two hundred years. Clearly, the 1629's omission of the "Apocrypha books" was not much of a rejection.
[JIL]"Puritans and Presbyterians lobbied for the complete removal of the Apocrypha from the Bible and in 1825 the British and Foreign Bible Society agreed. From that time on, the Apocrypha has been eliminated from practically all English Bibles--Catholic Bibles and some pulpit Bibles excepted."
This is one of the best examples of a revision to the KJV, in 1825 the British and Foreign Bible Society voted to remove these These 14 Books [There are 155,683 words in over 5,700 verses in 168 Chapters] of scriptures from the KJV. The actions of the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1825 in no way disproves or negates the fact that these 14 books were held Sacred to the translators of 1611.
The 1825 decision of the British and Foreign Bible Society was not universally accepted. For more than sixty years after this vote there was still alot of confusion in the canon of the KJV. It was not until 1880 that the American Bible Society voted remove the "Apocrypha" Books from the King James Version. The "Apocrypha" was officially removed by the Anglican Church from there English printings of the KJV by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1885.
Even after all of this "Apocrypha" books still appeared and disappeared in printings of the KJV in a apparent whirlwind of apparent confession, all depending on the whims of the individual printers. I have a copy of the Authorized Version complete with the "Apocrypha" siting on a bookshelf in my library that was printed in 1961 by the Houghton Mifflin Company of Boston.
Even Today you still can still if you wish purchase the King James Version complete with the Apocrypha, this is again a small list of a few that can be found at Amazon.com:
The Bible: Authorized King James Version with Apocrypha: Published by Oxford University Press; ISBN: 0192835254 (Pub. Date: July 1998)
KJV Standard Reference Edition With Apocrypha: Published by Cambridge Univ Pr (Bibles); ISBN: 0521509467; Slipcase edition (Pub. Date: August 1997)
1611 Edition: a reprint of the 1611 KJV With Apocrypha, Published by Nelson Bible; ISBN: 0840700415; Reissue edition (Pub. Date: June 1, 1982)
King James Version Lectern Edition: Published by Cambridge Univ Pr (Bibles); ISBN: 0521508169; (Pub. Date: March 1998)
The Dake Annotated Reference Bible, Standard Edition: King James Version With Apocrypha, Published by Dake Publishing ISBN: 1558290699 (Pub. Date: April 1996)
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